Tensia Lacy, Jaquanda Houston and Endeia Williams prepare to ride in a limo during the "Ride of Tears" that started at the Liberty Bowl and moved throughout the city calling for an end to the violence June 21, 2017.(Photo: Brad Vest / The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

Funeral director Pili Showers and his father, Peter Showers, have been helping bury an increasing number of homicide victims at Snow Funeral Home, so many that they struggled to come up with last year's number. "Probably about 20?" the father said.

The men from the South Memphis funeral home lent the use of a white funeral limousine to the Ride of Tears procession, a new rolling event that uses funeral vehicles to call for an end to violent crime.

A group of about 20 or 30 anti-violence activists gathered outside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium before setting off to talk with people at trouble spots in Memphis. Among the stops: the Hickory Hill site of the recent killing of 2-year-old Layla Washington.

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A hearse with a Stop the Killing sign was present at the "Ride of Tears" event that started at the Liberty Bowl and moved throughout the city calling for an end to the violence June 21, 2017.(Photo: Brad Vest / The Commercial Appeal)

"We're out here to save the babies' lives," said Mary Trice, 47. She operates a small restaurant and runs an organization called All About the Youth. She said the Ride of Tears aims to get parents to save their children, and to urge criminals to change their ways.

"If you kill us, guess what? God will punish you. This will be your last ride, too. You'll be in one of these cars one day."

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A Stop the Killing sign is put in the back of a car before the start of the "Ride of Tears" event that started at the Liberty Bowl and moved throughout the city June 21, 2017.(Photo: Brad Vest / The Commercial Appeal)

The procession included not just the white limousine, but also a white hearse with a "Stop the violence" sign in the back, and several cars manned by private security guards with black bullet-resistant vests. The guards were donating their time, said Dereck Dawson with Royal Services Security and Escort.

The tour was a poignant reminder of the ongoing pain inflicted by the city's gun violence, a pain that manifests itself through piles of teddy bears at inner-city telephone poles, and candlelight vigils, some of which have themselves been interrupted by violence.

After much discussion and interviews with reporters, the activists and security guards got into their vehicles, arranged them in order, and drove off into the troubled city.

Reach Daniel Connolly at daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-5296 and on Twitter at @danielconnolly.